Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations

California's Department of Insurance has announced that it will investigate a data breach affecting nearly two million current and former Health Net policyholders, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The Department of Managed Health Care also is investigating the security breach. In addition, Woodland Hills-based Health Net said it is conducting its own investigation into the incident (Helfand, Los Angeles Times, 3/16).

Health Net has started notifying people whose information is contained on the drives (Glover, Sacramento Bee, 3/16). The insurer said it will offer two years of no-cost credit monitoring and fraud resolution services to affected individuals, as well as credit restoration and identity theft insurance if needed.

Investigation Details

On Tuesday, Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones (D) said DOI would investigate Health Net to determine whether the insurer "did everything it could have done to avoid and appropriately remedy this security breakdown."

The commissioner also requested that Health Net send the results of its internal investigation to his agency (Los Angeles Times, 3/16).

Depending on the findings of the state investigations, the health plan could face fines (Goldberg, "KPBS News," KPBS, 3/15).

Delay in Notification

In related news, a hotline that Health Net launched on Tuesday indicated that the insurer discovered the data breach on Jan. 21.